Outlook
Outlook
One suitcase, three kids: a broke scientist pursues a dream
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25 September 2025
41 minutes
Available for over a year
Ijeoma Uchegbu has dedicated her career to studying pharmaceutical nanoscience, seeking out ways to carry medicines to parts of the body that are notoriously hard to reach. But as a schoolgirl in the UK her aspirations were to work in a shop and earn enough to go dancing at weekends. It was when her Nigerian parents took her back to their home country that she discovered a passion for science and a burning ambition. She went to university aged 16, married and started a family of her own but when her marriage failed, desperate to do a PhD she moved back to the UK. By now Ijeoma was a single mum-of-three and they had one suitcase and £500 to start a new life. Within weeks the family would be living in a homeless shelter with Ijeoma battling to keep them afloat, fed and safe. But Ijeoma is a fighter, soon she had a job in a lab and a home and she found love again. She was given a damehood earlier this year and is a champion of race equality, and it turns out she also has a talent for stand-up comedy.
Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Andrea Kennedy
Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707
(Photo: Ijeoma Uchegbu, smiling at the camera. Credit: Phil Mynott)